Image reproduction device



Jan. 12, 1960 P. M. G. TOULON ETAL 2,921,211

IMAGE REPRODUCTION DEVICE Filed Feb. 23, 1955 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Jan. 12, 1960 P. M. G. TOULON ErAL 2,921,211

IMAGE REPRODUCTION DEVICE Filed Feb. 23, 1955 @Sneeuw Jan. 12, 1960 P. M. G. TOULON ETAL 2,921,211

IMAGE REPRODUCTION DEVICE 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed Feb. 23, 1955 States llVIAGE REPRODUCTION DEVICE Application February 23, 1955, Serial No. 490,026

' 3 Claims. (Cl. 313-70),

This invention relates to the transmission, reception and reproduction of electrical vcommunication`signals and more particularly to television image signals.

The principal object of this invention is to reduce the width of the frequency band required forV the transmission of electrical signals or to increase'the definition of .a television image with a given bandwidth.

The present television system adopted in the United States is comprised of 525 horizontal lines scanned 30 times a second and the video bandwidth is limited to 4.25 megacycles per second. Rather than transmit 30 images per second, which would produce objectionable flicker, it was decided to scan twice as many images per second with half the number of lines per image and thus retain the bandwidth of V4.25 megacycles per second. The present system calls for the odd numbered lines to be scanned in one field in one sixtieth of a second and the even numbered lines to be scanned in the next eld in one sixtieth of a second so that a complete frame (two fields) of 525 lines is scanned in one thirtieth of a second. This method of scanning is known as vertical interlace and is utilized in the system adopted in the United States.

The phosphor utilized on the screen of the image reproduction tube has a persistence or decay time such that'the luminescence drops almost to zero in one thirtieth of a second or the time for one complete frame. If the decay time were longer, the flicker effect would be reduced but there would be smudging of rapidly moving objects in the image. The persistence of the human eye gives the observer the effect that the screen of 525 lines is presented in one instant.

The bandwidth of 4.25 megacycles per second limits the number of resolvable elements of definition presented along each of the horizontal scanning lines to about 450 assuming an 83% active horizontal scanning time. This results `from the fact that the bandwidth of 4.25 megacycles is equal to the horizontal lines scanned per eld (262.5 times the elds scanned per second (60) times half the elements per each horizontal scanned line (450/2) multiplied by the per unit active horizontal scanning time (.83). In order to reduce the bandwidth with the same definition or to increase the definition with the same bandwidth, it is necessary that one of the determining factors of bandwidth be modified.

In comparison with successive-line frame scanning in which each field contains the total number of lines, the conventional two field vertical interlace allows better utilization of video information and is a first step in the reduction of the bandwidth. To attempt to further decrease the lines per iield and still retain the 525 lines per frame and 60 fields per second would result in flicker due to the short decay time of presently used phosphors. However, the physiological factor of the human eye can be utilized to further reduce bandwidth without loss of definition. It has been found that where the reproduced scene is of low detail in shade or where rapid movement is involved, the observer requires less definition.

lIt has also been found that a horizontal interlace sys- 2,921,21 Patented Jan. l2, 1960 iield are presented so as to form essentially a dot inter- .lace along each horizontal line. The horizontal dot interlace system .in combination with present vertical interlace requires at least four fields to complete a frame and may utilize even a larger number. The horizontal interlace system also suffers from the same problem associated with the vertical interlace in that where more than two fields per frame are utilized objectionable flicker may be found due to the short decay time of the present phosphors.

It is accordingly an object of this invention vto provide an improved television system to combineth'e 'advantages of horizontal and vertical interlace scanning to reduce the required bandwidth for a suitable highv definition image. y L

It is another object to provide an improved television system to present a high definition image to an observer with'V a given bandwidth.

It is another object to provide an'imp'roved television system which utilizes a low denition and high definition scan within a television raster. Y

It is another object to provide an improved television system capable of reproducing an image on a cathode ray tube screen having different decay time light producing elements.

It is another object to provide an improvedimage reproduction tube utilizing two electron beams of dili-v ferent spot size.

It is another object to provide an improved image reproduction tube having a screen comprised offphosphors of-different decay times. Y

It is another object to provide a means for separately or simultaneously exciting at will a plurality of phosphors having different decay times. 5*'

It is another object to provide a signal from the transmitter which allows the selection of the Ydesired light producing area at the receiver. 'f

It is another object to make an analysis of the redundancies in video information between adjacent picture elements in a given frame and/or between corresponding elements in successive frames. f

It is anotherobject to form and transmit a signal co cerning these redundancies preferably in a compatible manner.

system embodying our invention;

tion from this signal at the receiver.

It is another object to provide a means to use this redundancy signal at the receiver to select a phosphor of the proper time decay for displaying each video vinformation.

It is another object to provide means to use this redundancy signal at `the receiver to alter the spot size used for displaying each video information.

These and other objects are elected by our invention as will be apparent from the following description taken in accordance withvthe accompanying drawings throughout which like reference characters indicate like parts, and in which:

Figure l is a block diagram of a television transmission system embodying our invention;

Fig. 2 is the graphical representation showing the relative positioning of the electron beam in the scanning raster in different fields;

Fig. 3 is a graphical illustration showing a portion of the face plate of the pickup tube with superimposed picture elements :thereon for purposes of explaining 'the invention;

Fig. 4 is a block diagram of a television receiving It is another object to recover the redundancy informa- Fig'. fis a graphical'illustration lshowing aporti'o of the face plate of a cathode ray tube with superimposed picture elementsand beam .trace areas;

mgliiglI 6 i s a5 schematic view ofgial cathode 'ray tubeA embodyingur inyenfim tFig.7,f 's a., aphical illustration showing aportion .E offaceJplate ofthe tubeillustrated in Fig. 6 for v "f purposes .of .,xp1aining the invention;

,8, is .a 1block diagram illustrating another method Lderiving a signal compatibley with our systemfor ig.: 9 is .aphical illustration showing the pathof i4ca nn'ingthe camera'tube used in the system shownfin Aig-78;

vFig. 10: illustrates", another system of deriving asignal @to control .theg scan .pattern .in response to movement thin .the scene.,beingdtelevised; andV the fase-.P12116 0f, a, Pickuafubef f- Referring in detail to Fig. 1, there is .illustrated a Mteleyision.;.transmittingsystem. Thezlight from an obwill be clear'to those skilled in thelart thatv other types .can-1era, tubes may/ be employed in the' practice of y ilixjentioit with eq 1 1a1 facility.

ection'y syste-rn inhthe formof horizontal and vertical sccond. The auxiliary delle ctioncoil 21 is provided eylesgper second.; The wave shape of the auxiliary v ldeflection;generator. is 'square and by means of the auxiliary deflection c oilv 21gallows theraster to be dis- .'-.placedQduringyertical retracetime andvheldin this dis- ;...gplaelxposition during the scanning of two elds. kThe output Wave form of the generator 35 is shown in Fig. 2. ...alunne type of scan,as lwill be described for the purposes Vof explaining our:;invention, ,the raster is displaced upwardein,fields..1,.2,',5and 6 and` downward in fields 3, .te 4,;.71and8; .The position of the raster in eachiield is ...indicated, in. Fig. 2 to aid in further explanation of the scanning raster.

The horizontalv andvertical deflection generators 31 and 33 are controlledby separate sync signals providedi from a synchronizing signal generator 41. The square-y wave deection generator 35,"which consists of a multivibrator, such as described in Waveforms, First edition, by" Chance, l-Iughes, et al., published by McGraw-I -Iill Book Co., is provided with a 15 cycle per second and a 7.5y cycle per` second synchronizing pulses in order to synchronize andV properly orderthe deflection of Vthe scanning raster. .The purpose of this `additional vertical ;de'i'e-ction is to increase the vertical interlace to a ratio of 4:1. .Y .flfhe output ofthe cameratube 15 is lf ecl t o a video pl'er 43 andthe outputl thereof .is fed .to a sampler witch 45 which is at high-Sped electronic switch. The sampler switch 45, a suitable type of which ;',.in-,{Ie1evis i9nEngineeringbylDonald G. Fink, published by McGraw-Hill B kQc.52nd.editen..maybathwght of as a rotary switch rotating at 2.47 million revolutions g.A 1 1 illustrates nanotherpossible phosphor arrangec ct or scene 1 1 is. focused by suitable optical means 13 on to the photosensitive cathode of a suitable teleetioncoilsvlT andA 19. In addition. to the usualV ction generator 33 of a frequency of. 6,0 ycycles vper r-.With a deflection generator. 35 p01?Y a ,frequency `0f 15 iaeaifai 14 per second. This switch allows the video infomation from the video amplifier 43 to pass to a low pass lter 49 during 180 of rotation and permits no video information to pass during the other 180. The frequency and phase of the sarn]. )l n er switch 45 is controlled by a 2.47 megacycles per secondsignal fed to the sampler switch 45 from va lphase selector switch 47 .M The phase .selectonswitch 47 consistsl of @synchronized switch,

f ....second signal `froirrthe ,syncggenerator 41.* sothat the proper.; phase for each ,entire lield is ,switched 'during "fthe vertical retracctimefof'the scanning raster.` `The 2O vpurposeof .the phase's'elec'tingswitch 47 and sampler switch" 45 is .toy provide a 2:1 horizontalrdotpinterlace `vf scan.f. 1'twil1 ,be 'obvious to those skilled in the `arttiiat thephase selecting, switch 47 may be eliminatedj if a sampling frequencyiwhichisj an-odd multiple offonehalf the'. line'scanning .frequency of thel electron beamy isfjcho'seny to directlyfeedthe sample switch '45.

Theoutput of the" `s'aniplerf,switch'45 is fedto` theglow l pass/ filter/49, having aband passi of Y(A) to 1.235Qmega- 'l cycles per" second. f. .The Aoutput of the-low passlter49 consists-,ofi an 'envi'elope of L. ysampled @video l l. from the v.sampler 'switch/45. It is desirableV to`examine a p or- *f fwtiorrorfthe raster. Ascanned bythe camera tube tube `.15 to` understand f.and describe theV remaining vportion of th transmission'. system.. eI rring indetail tofFig. 3', a portion ofY thekfraster `hewn' c lividedintoVV eighty sets; of picturefele'ments.

um erdesignated on each ofthe elements Vonthe rastei-corresponds tofthe'eldin'which thervideo information from/.this particularlelernent is obtained by means of'lthe'lrecordingelectronbeam. In order to obtain a f 1 f4z'lfverticalfandQa 2 :1 `horizontal interlace, it isV necessary thatA-eight'elds-zbe yscanned to complete one frame.

information -isobtained from all of the elements labeled Vor frame, the Video information is obtained from' all the i elements labeledZ.. The'remaining information to completea frame is 'obtained' from the other elements iii a The video information from the low pass lilterf49 fedy toa recording head 51 such as described ini an Y article entitled A System For Recording and Reproducing yTelevisitm Signals Vby O1son,'Houghton, et'al.,v RCA 1 Review `March 1954,.and is recorded'on a video tape 50 having afhigh'freq'uency.response ofat least 1.235 mega- .'fc'ycles'per second. An' element of video information moves fro'mthe recording head S1 by means of the tape 50, to pickup head 53-,.,to pickup head 55, to pickup head 57.. to pickup head 59 and isthen removed from the tape byrne'ans of an erasing head 62. The speed ofthe tape 50 is carefully synchronized and theheads are located s that there is an exact two field d'elay between'each ofthe following; heads 51 andV 53, heads 53 and 55,`heads and 57, heads57V and 59. To explain the function ofthis system kof heads and tape,'aS' Sume that'iield number oneis being scanned and that the video information being recorded by the recording head 51 at this given instant of time is obtained fromele men t 1 infthe npperflelfth'and corner of Fig., 3. Inthis ,same

f instant 0f. time@ videofinformation from 'piku "eads those inforrnations'which .are recorded gh yfield franie fro1rt-`theadjacentw elespectively'. Y'The"iifrmiiiii'obtained.

at this instant from pickup head 59 is that information which was recorded from the same element 1 during field 1 of the previous eight field cycle. The video infomation from heads 53, 55, 57 and 59 which corresponds to the video intelligence on adjacent elements 7, 5, 3 and 1, respectively, is simultaneously fed into a detail comparator 63. The detail comparator 63 consists of three diierential amplifiers as described in the reference Waveforms by Chance, Hughes, et al. These three differential amplifiers perform the operation of subtracting the video intelligence of head 53 from head 59, head 55 from head 59, and head 57 from head 59, respectively. An output is thus obtained from the detail comparator 63 only if a difference other than zero is obtained from any of the differential amplifiers. A zero output from the detail comparator 63 indicates that the video values from the elements 1, 3, 5 and 7 are identical. An output from the detail compartor 63 indicates that one of the elements 7, 5 or 3 differs from element 1 and, therefore, that there is high detail information present in the scanned portion of the raster represented by the four elements 1, 3, 5 and 7 in the left-hand top corner of Fig. 3. The output of the low pass filter 49 is also connected directly to a movement comparator 65. The movement comparatorl 65 functions in a similar manner to the detail comparator and compares the video signal derived from the low pass filter 49 with a signal derived from pickup head 59. These video signals derived from the low pass filter 49 and the pickup head 59 are obtained from the same picture element in the raster for two successive frames. Referring again to Fig. 3, element 1 in the left-hand top corner is scanned only once a frame and the movement comparator 65 compares the video intelligence obtained from this element in successive frames and, therefore, determines whether motion has taken place within element 1 from the preceding frame. If there is no difference in video output, then there will be no signal derived from the differential amplifier in the form of the movement comparator 65.

The video information that is to be transmitted to the receiver is derived from pickup head 59 and connected to a suitable transmitter 67. The outputs from the detail comparator 63 and the movement comparator 65 are fed to a coincidence circuit 69. The coincidence circuit 69 consists essentially of a dual controlled pentode tube such as a 6AS6, in which the output from the detail comparator 63 is fed to the control grid while the output of the movement comparator 65 is fed to the suppressor grid of the tube. The control grid of the tube is biased so that the tube is cut off unless there is a signal obtained from the detail comparator 63. The suppressor grid of the tube is biased so that the tube is cut off only if there is a signal from the movement comparator 65. It is, therefore, seen that an output is derived from the coincidence circuit 69 only if there is an output derived from the detail comparator 63 and no output from the movement comparator 65. This signal derived from the coincidence circuit 69 will hereafter be referred to as a redundancy signal. If either of the conditions set forth is not met, then there will be no output or redundancy signal obtained from thev coincidence circuit 69. The existence of a redundancy signal output from the coincidence circuit 69 corresponds to a condition of high detail and no movement within'the scene scanned by the camera tube 15. The redundancy signal from the coincidence circuit 69 is fed to the transmitter 67 where it is used to modulate the redundancy subcarrier which has a frequency of 1.235 megacycles and transmitted in a compatible manner similar to the NTSC color signal during the active horizontal scanning time. If there is an output from the coincidence circuit the redundancy subcarrier will be transmitted 180 out of phase with respect to the reference burst. If there is no output from the coincidence circuit the redundancy subcarrier will be transmitted in phase with the reference burst. The vector of the video detector in a conventional manner.

'6 representing the phase of the redundancy carrier need only rotate in one direction to reach these two-positions. It will be evident to those skilled in the art that this `suppressed carrier redundancy signal need only have one sideband. By choosing theY redundancy subcarrier frequency to be an odd multiple of one-half the line scanning frequency it is possible to interleave the subcarrier and luminance informations similar to the well known NTSC color technique and thereby allow the highest frequency transmitted to be limited to the color subcarrier frequency of 1.235 megacycles.

The sync generator 41 provides a horizontal sync pulse at a rate of 7,350 cycles per second to the transmitter 67 and is impressed on the transmitted signal during the horizontal or line retrace period. The sync generator 41 also provides a vertical sync pulse at the rate of 60 cycles per second to the transmitter 67 and is impressed on the transmitted signal during the vertical or field retrace period. The 2.47 megacycles per second output signal from the phase selecting switch 47 is frequency divided by means of a frequency divider 71 to obtain a 1.235 megacycles per second reference signal which is also connected to the transmitter 67 and transmitted as a reference burst on the back porch of the horizontal synchronizing signal in a manner similar to the NTSC color burst. The sync generator 41 also provides a field order sync pulse at a rate of l5 cycles per second to the transmitter l67 and is transmitted by a suitable method. One method that may be utilized to transmit this field orderv sync pulse is during the time that the first line of each field is scanned. Instead of transmitting video information during the first line of each field, a black or white level signal is transmitted. During the first line of the first and fifth fields of the eight cycle frame, the white level is transmitted while the black level is transmitted during the first line of the other six fields. The value of video corresponding to the white level and the black level is described in the Fink reference, Television Engineering.

Referring in detail to Fig. 4, there is shown a block diagram of a suitable receiver embodying the invention. The audio system is of any suitable type in both receiver and transmiter and is not shown herein to reduce the complexity. The signal transmitted from the transmitting 'system previously described with respect to Fig. 1 is received by a suitable antenna 81 and applied to a television receiver. The signal obtained from the antenna 81 is connected to a radio frequency amplifier, an intermediate frequency amplifier, and a video detector as represented by the block 83. y

A sync signalseparator 87 recovers the 60 cycle per second sync pulse, the 7350 cycle per second sync pulse and 1.235 megacycles per second burst from the output The 60 cycle vertical sync pulse and the 7350 cycle horizontal sync pulse are used to maintain the proper relationships of the horizontal and vertical generators 86 and 88, respectively, which deflect the beam or beams of a cathode ray tube 90 in a conventional manner. The cathode ray tube 90 is of suitable type and is conventional with the exception thatV two guns 91 and 92 and an auxiliary deection means 95 are provided.

The 60 cycle vertical sync pulse is delayed by means of a delay line S2 and then shaped by a pulse shaper 84, such as described in the reference by Chance, Hughes, et al., so as to obtain a narrow square pulse. This square pulse obtained from the pulse shaper 84 is positive during the time that the first line of'each field is scanned and negative at all other times. This pulse is fed from the pulse shaper 84 to a sampler switch 79 which operates at a 60 cycle rate and allows only the black and white levels transmitted during the first line of each field to pass. The polarity of the output of the sampler switch 79 is chosen so that the black level corresponds to zero output while the white level corresponds to full output. Therefore, an output pulse is obtained from the sampler switch generi 79'only'wh'en white level is transmitted vduringktlieifrirst line". `This"outputpulse`,which 'hash a 'repetition irate. of 15'ftiin'es pei-second {is'used to synchronize the:Y square,- wave' deiiectionlg'enerator 97 which is similar to' the lsql'lai'evvave generator 35 describedfwith referenceY to Fig.' 1. The Voutput wave form of thisv generator 35y is shown in Fig. 2.

The 1.235 megacycle burst signal fromv the syncmseparator 87 Yis used to synchronizeA a 1.2 354 megacycle oscillator 68 using the same technique that` is used in NTSC color television receivers to obtain the color referencej signal from the colorpburst. This.1.235 megacycle signa'lnis applied to a frequency doubler 78 to obtain a 2.4.7megacycle signal which is fedto the video'sampler switch ;.v

Continuousvideo information fromthe video detector 83'is' amplifiedby a video amplifier 85' land vapplied to the video'sampler switch St). The videosampling switch 80 whiclliis similar to that. described with reference to Fig; '1 samples this continuous video information at a 2.47 mega'cy'cles per second .rate soV as to VobtainvideoV information pulses forjdot' presentation. The output 'of the" S'ampler switch 80 isapplied to the cathodezs 74' and 76 vof the cathode ray tube9t). l

The youtput from the video detectornSB is also passed through-a band pass filter 77 `which passeslthe' redundancy subcarrier and its side'rband. The output from the band passv filter 77 is fed` to asynchronous demodulat'or 75 as described in theV article Theory of' Synchronous Dernodulator as Used'inQNTSC Color Television Receiverfby D; Livingston which appears in the January, 1954, issue ofthe Proceedings of the Institute of Radio Engineers. The.l'.23 5 megacycle output from the controlled oscillator iiisl fedV to the synchronous demodulator'75`to actas a reference signal. A positive. or a Vnegative voltage output is'ob'tairied from'the synchronous dernodulator 75 depend'- ing upon whether theredu'ndancy carrier is in phase or 180 out of phase with respect yto the 1.235 megacycle reference signal.

' The output of the synchronous demodulatorv 7S is fed to a paraphase amplifier 73 such as described in Electron Tube Circuits by S. Seely, First edition, publishedby the McGraw-Hill Book Company. This amplier provides two outputs which have opposite polarity. Thesegoutputs are connected to the control grids 98 and 99 of theveletron guns191 and 92, respectively. These tworoutputs from the paraphase amplifier 73 are such that onlyzone electron gun 91 or 92 is gated on at any one instant. The redundancy signal, therefore, determines which, gun 91 or 92 will be gated on at any given instant.

The operation of the receiving system shown in Fig. 4 utilizing one embodiment of our inventionmay be explained as follows. The two separate electron guns 91 and 92 provided within the cathode ray tube 90 produceftwo electron beam spots of different size but are substantially focused on the same spot on the screen of the .cathode ray tube 90.

The image reproduction tube 90 is of conventional type with the exception that means are providedfor generating two electron beams of different spot size and means are valso provided for moving the raster scanned'by one of the beams in a Vertical direction. In a specific embodiment, the cathode ray tube 90 is provided with two separate electron guns 91 and 92.' It is also possible to utilize a common cathode androbtain two separate beams bythe use of separate control Agrids or to utilize only one electron gun and providing means for defocusing the beam generated from the single gun to obtain two different spot sizes;

The image presented by the cathode ray tube 9Q'may be explained by reference to the graphical representation shown inEig 5. As previously explained, the' cathode ray tube'f9`0v provides two separate electron guns 91and 92for producil'g'two electron'beamspots ofdiferent'sizes. 'The electron; guns- 91- which excites thesmall size picture elei ments suchlas represented by the,V numbered elements in the'left'hand side .ofV Fig. 5 is provided with an electrostatic defiectionsystem 95 which is energized by a squarewavedefiection generator 97. The squarewave deflection generator 971s synchronized so as to deect the small spot beamv from electron gun 91 vertically equal to the height of one 's mall picture element during the vertical retrace period and hold it in thisV position during the scanning -of that field.

The redundancy signal which is fed to the paraphase amplifier 7f3-determines which of the two electron guns 91' or 92 isgated on at any instance. s nFig. 5 is a graphical illustration of a portion ofthe face plate ofthe cathode ray tube 90 divided into a number' of picture, elementsv by imaginary vertical and horizontal lines. for the purpose of explanation. Y Y

.In the specific embodiment, 1221/2 scanning lines 22 and24. are provided for each field. A 245.line coarse krasteris completed .in eachV two fields when utilizing a largeV size beamspot electronl gun 92. -A 490 line -fine raster is completed every eight vfields when utilizing'fthe small beam. spot size generated by electron gun 91.V If itis assumed that the small spot' electron gun 91"'is turned on bythe paraphase amplifier 73, then a dot scanrraster is obtained. lIn the first field,` the elements llocated on line 22 are scanned bythe electron beam and the cathode of the-small ybeam electron gun 91 is gated on at a. dot rate in the areas designated 1V. The size of the beam spot and thedistancef-the beam is gated on is indicated by theenclosedrhatched area within the elementsY designated 1';

This area is substantially the same form andduration as thatrofsprots that are excited during succeedingfield scans'. On thenext field scan, the interlacing horizontal scan will excite'theareas designated 2 on the lines 24, `In the third iield,rthe electron beam will again scan the line 22 and the beam willbe gated onrin the elements designated 3. In a similar manner, the succeeding fields, of which there are a total of eight, are scanned in a similar manner to obtain a complete frame in eight fields. The electron beam trace of thesmall spot gun 91 is positioned with respect to/the line 22 or 24 being scanned in each` field, as indicated in Fig.5 and alsoFig, 2. The elements excited inieach field Vare indicated as previously shown-by the numbers therein.

In thisrrnanner, 428 horizontal picture elements may be resolved, assu/mingra horizontal dot resolution factor of `.707 and a 90% active horizontal scanning time.

It will be obvious to those skilled inthe art that a dot pattern may be obtained by controlling the timespent OD each. part of the screen instead of controlling the electronflowLk with the sampler switch. To accomplish this, a Asmall amplitude 2.47 megacycle horizontal deviation (ideallyV sawtooth) may be applied usingan addi:- tional4 coil around the neck of theV tube or additional electrostatic deflection plates. This deviation superimposed 4upon the normal scan will cause the electron beam to jump from picturev element to picture element and thereby produce a dot pattern similar to that produced by the sampler switch. Y

IfV it is now assumed that the small beam electron gun 91'is turnedv oi by meansl of the'paraphase arnplifier73 and the large spot electron gun 92 is gated on, the scanning raster is as indicated on the right-hand portionv of Fig. 5. LThel beam spot of theY large beamspot electron gun 92 is of sufficient size tov simultaneously excite the elements 1, 3, 5 and 7 on line 22, and wlrenscanning line-24 theelements 2, 4, 6 and 8. scanning line 2 2 in field 1, the electron beamk from the gun 9.2` excites all of the elements 1, 3, 5 and i in the line 22. In field 2, Vthe beam from the electron gun 92 willexcite elements (2,. 4, 6 and 8 inline 2.4. `vIn the third Afiel' :`l,.the beam from the electron gun 92 willagain excite elements 1, 3, 5 vand 7 in line 22. It is,t 'neref o re, seen th`atrby the' utilization of the large beam spot lele'cf tr'on gun 92, there is obtaineda raster of' 245'scauning For example,v in

9 lines perframe which are scanned ata rate oftwo fields per frame and 1221/2 scanning lines per field.

It is thus seen that on the left side of Fig. 5, by the utilization of the dot system presentation which requires eight fields to complete a frame, there is obtained `a large amount of detail definition. This large definition in detail is obtained by combining both horizontal and vertical interlace. On the right half portion of Fig. 5, the resolution is reduced in that there are only 245 scanning lines instead of substantiallyv 490 vertical elements as in the dot system and also the maximum horizontal resolution is reduced by a factor of 2. The utilization of eight eldslo provide high definition and detail in the image beam reproduced may result in objectionable flicker due to the decay time of the present phosphors which decay to, substantially zero within the time required to scan two fields. However, the high definition portion of our system will only be utilized in those areas Where there is high detail Yresulting from a difference in the brightness 'of adjacent picture elements while the continuous scan Y system will be utilized over the majority of the area of the normal picture where the shades are of low detail. It has also been found that in the presentation of moving objects, it is not necessary to have as good a definition as for a still object due to the physiological factor of the human eye. This feature is also incorporated into our invention so that where there is movement in the image or scene being televised, the continuous scan represented by the large beam spot size gun 92 is utilized regardless of the detail involved. v

V`The device described herein is applicable to a decreased bandwidthsystem allowing a picture having essentially the sameresolution as the conventional 525 line system to be transmitted within a 1.25 magacycles per second bandwidth. The specific frequencies set forth herein pertain to this system.

It is also obvious from theabove explanation that our invention is applicable to improved definition with the present bandwidth of 4.25 megacycles per second. Our invention would allow a 100 percent increase in vertical resolution and `a^`4l percent increase in horizontal resolution overv the conventional system. This would provide a maximum of 1016 horizontal picture elements and 1050 vertical picture elements neglecting retrace time within the standard 4.25 megacycles per second bandwidth in a cornpatiblemanner.y The frequencies would be altered from the described system in that a horizontal scanning frequency of 15,750 cycles per second instead of 7350 cycles per second is used. A video sampling frequency of 8 megacycles per second is used instead of 2.47 megacycles per second while a 4 megacycles per second burst is used instead of the 1.235 megacycle burst. The low pass iilter and delay mechanism must have 0-4 megacycle per second bandpass. The operation, structure and frequencies would otherwise be the same as described with kreference to Figs. l and 4.

Referring in detail to Figs. 6 and 7, there is shown a vcathode ray tube in which a horizontal and vertically interlaced picture may be presented with a minimum of iiicker. The envelope of the cathode ray tube may be of any suitable type having a neck portion 101, a face .plate portion 103and an intermediate ared portion 10S. The face plate 103 has a phosphor layer 102 comprised of a plurality of phosphor lines deposited in parallel strips 107 and 109. The phosphor strips 107 and 109 may be deposited in any suitable manner, such as silk screening or a photo-resist technique. The phosphor .material utilized in the strips 107 and 109 is of a suitable type capable of producing light of a desired shade or color upon electron bombardment. The phosphor material utilized in the 'even interleaved strips 107 is of the type having a decay time of approximately 2/ 15 of a second. The phosphor used in the odd interleaved strips 109 has a decay time of about 1/30 of a second and may be composed of a single layer of hexagonal ZnSsAg trajectories.

(0.015) mixed with hexagonal 1.3 ZnSCdS:Ag (0.01). The phosphor used in the even interleaved strips 107 may be a cascaded phosphor composed of a layer of hexagonal ZnS:Ag(0.0l5) on top of hexagonal 9ZnS-CdSrCU (0.0073). The decay time may be altered by changing the proportions and preparation as described in An Introduction to Luminescene of Solids by H. W. Leverenz published by Wiley and Sons, Inc., 1950. The phosphors described above may be used even though their characteristics are not ideal for this application. The ideal characteristics for the phosphor material would require the phosphor to retain its brilliance at a substantially uniform level and then drop quickly to zero. The phosphors presently available to the industry do not exhibit this characteristic but decay in a substantially logarithmic manner.

A conducting transparent coating may be deposited on the face plate prior to the depositing on the phosphor layer 102 or, as shown in the specific embodiment, a thin electron ,conducting layer 111 of a material such as aluminum may be deposited on the back of the phosphor layer 102. The layer 111 is of a suitable thickness so as to be substantiallyl electron permeable to the electron beam. A masking grid 113 is positioned adjacent to the face plate and substantially parallel thereto. The face place 103 and the masking grid 113 may be of curved or planar structures. The wires 115 within the masking grid 113 are parallel to each other and equally positioned. The Aspacing of the wires 115 is substantially equal to the width of two phosphor strips 107 or 109. The wires 115 are positioned with respect to the phosphor strips 107 and 109 so as to be substantially between each pair of strips 107 and 109. y

Positioned within the neck 101 of the tube are two electron guns 117 and 119 having diiferent electron beam The guns 117 and 119 are positioned with respect to the masking grid 113 so that the beam from the gun 119 will excite only the short decay phosphor strips 109 while the beam from the other gun 117 will excite only the long decay phosphor strips 107. The electron gun 119 which excites the short decay time phosphor strips 109 has a spot size essentially twice as large as that of the electron gun 117 exciting the long decay phosphor strips 107. The small spot size gun 117 is provided with a pair of electrostatic deflection plates 121 so that thebeam may be slightly deliected vertically to excite the desired small picture elements. Alternatively, an auxiliary electromagnetic deflection coil maybe wound on the neck 101 of the tube to provide this slight deflection although the large size spot beam is also deflected in this `in the July 1953 issue of the Proceedings of the I.R.E.,

page 851. In a color television tube, three different color strips are utilized instead of two different phosphorstrips having similar color light output and diiferent decay times, as in our device. The color television tubes do not utilize a difference in beam spot size nor do they utilize an auxiliary detiection means for one of the electron beams. It will be also obvious to those skilled in the art that an image reproduction tube having a single gun may be used as long as a method of separately exciting the interleaved phosphors 107 and 109 is provided. The electron beam from a single gun tube can be defocused or vertically undulated at a high frequency rate during the excitation of the short decay phosphor strip 109 in order to produce an enlarged size spot. It is, therefore, obvious that this invention can be utilized in other type phosphor strip selecting tubes, such as the type utilizing a voltage deflection 11 v 'grid'position'ed near' the faceplateinsted fthe masking effect illustrated in. the tube in Fig.6 and also the'type in which. sensing signals are utilized to' determine'the position of the electron beams. The invention can be also utilized inthe shadow mask type tube having" separate gunsand interspersed phosphor dots. The dots 'would be of different time decay instead ofV different' color reproducing phosphors. Our invention can also be' utilized using two or more separate image producing tubes having'diferent time decay phosphors. The images from 'these tubes would4 then be superimposed to form a single composite image. This invention can also be utilized in planar'cathode types of image reproducing tubes inwhich electrons are emitted-by processes such-as 'eld'emissionand photoemission, as long as there is an interleaving of light producing elements having different decay or display times provided. This-inventionis'also applicable tok those type image reproducing tubes such as vacuum type`,-gas.type, or solid state type. y Y 'Y Referring in detail to Figs. 6 and-7,'theoperation of the receiver and the scanning of the'raster is similar tothatdescribed with referenceto Fig. .4. VThe electron .gun-1'17 which excites the-small areafpicture'elementsshown in Fig.

spect to Fig. 4- by the square-wave deection. generator 97. The squarewave generator 97 is synchronized so as to deflect the small spot beam fromrthe electron .gun

117 .verticaliy by the heightof one picture elementv dur- Y phors 107 and 109 having different-decay times. V-The -face ,plate 103 is shown divided into vnumbered'picture elements by imaginary vertical lineslforpurposes of explanation. The scanning system is similar'to thatldescribed with respect to Fig. 4 in that 1221/2 scanning-lines are provided foreach field. 'A 245 line coarse rasteris completedeach two fields when using the large size spot gun'f119. A

4490 line fine rasteris completed every eightl fields when using the small size spot gun117. If it is'assumed that .7 is provided With electrostatic deiiectin plates which `are actuated in a similar manner as explained-with rethe small spot electron beam gun 117 -is turned on then a dot scanning raster is obtained. In the first field, the

-longdecay phosphor strips 107'within'the upperfhalf o f theelement 1 arescanned by the electron beam and the cathode of the smallbeam electron gun 117y is gated on at a dot rate in the upper halfof the areas designated by the numeral 1. Thesize of the `beam'spot Vand they distance the beam is gated on is indicated for purpose of illustration by the enclosed hatchedrareawithin the elements designated 1. This area is substantially the same form and durationv as that `of Vthe spots lthat are excited during the succeeding field scans. On Vthe next field scan, the interlacing horizontal scan will superimpose on the strips 197 andthe small beam will be gated onl inthe upper half of the element 2. In the third field, the electron beam will againscan the odd lines andthe small beam will be gated on in the upper half'ofelements designated 3. In a similar manner, the succeeding fields, of which there are eight, are scannedto complete a frame. The electron beam generated by the gun 117 is moved from one of the strips 107 to the other within one line by means of the deflection plates 121 in a manner shown in Fig; 2. The elements excited in each'ofY the succeeding fields are indicated by the numbers within the elemental areas. The masking effect of the grid 113 prevents the eviously describedwith reference to Fig.V l.' Y.

small beam generated from the gun 117 from exciting 4 any 'of the short decay phosphors represented by the strips- 109 with the elementalpicture elements. Y

If it is now assumedthat the Vsmall beamelectron gun 11.7 is turned: ofi and the largespot electron gun. 119 is Nturnedon, the scanningfrastenisas indicated inthe right half portion of Fig." 7, The V'large beam from the gun decay' Aphosphor stripsL in"p'i 'ctureiel enen 3 ,15 and 7 when scanning line 1 Vorin picture elements 2,4`, 6 and 8 while scanning line 2; For example, in' scanning odd lines in field' 1,.'thejlarge beamexcitesjall theshort decay phosphor strips1109v within element j s" 1 ,l3gj5 and 7. In field 2, the'large beam generated'bythe` gun 119j'ex`cites all the shortl decayphosphorjstrips"109in theeven lines within elements 2, 4,?6 and 8. Itfis, therefore, seen that by the utilizationof thelargebeamf spot' gun 119jthere is obtained a rraster of y245` scanned lines per frame which are scanned at' a rate oftwo fieldslp'er! fratrie andfl221 scanningv lines per field. Themas'king. grid115 'due to the trajectory'of the" electron b'eam'shadows-th'e long decay, phosphor stripsl 107 so' astopfreventexcitation 'of'the long` decay phosphor? stri'ps by 'means of the electron gun 119. It may be o and one short decay vphosplgtor' s'tripor area per picture element. It v`may also'be desirableto Aorient'the-I phosphor strips Yat an` angle withrespec't tothe direction of scanf ning. Figure 1`1 illustrates'another possible phosphor arrangement. Usingthis arrangement -twice as many masking grid wires whichV are oriented parallel to the'phosphor strips are required'. l For .the purpose of'explanation, the invention; is described utilizingonly two interleaved'phosphor strips having 'different decay times f ordisplaying an image utilizing twoV diiier'entamounts of detail. It will be obvious that the picture maybe reproduced using three or more types o f light reproducing elements having threeor. more different phosphor decay times. Y v

Fig. 8 illustrates anv alternate methodforr obtaining, a comparison from acamera/tube; `A-high-frequency undulation having a frequency of the order ofj 4.94y megacycles per second from the generator 1 31 is applied to an. auxiliary c oil positioned around the v neckof the camera tube-1S so as to allow'araster tovbegscanned in a manner as shown in Fig. 9. The'video output from the camera tube 15 is fed throughayideoamplifier 1 32and 'threel delay lines1'34, 136 and 138'to a detail comparator 63;Y The delay lines 134, 1'36-and 138 have a delay of the order of .101 micro-second. The outputs from thc video amplifier 132 and the three delay lines 134136 and 138 are connected to thedetail comparator 6 3 wh ere agdetail signal is derived in a similar'manner as'l described with referenceto Fig. V1. y, 'f

Fig. 10illustrates an alternate method of obtaining a movement comparison signall whenV utl`zing motion pic- -ture lm. The film is synchronized at av 3Q frame per second, rate so that the film, 140 is indexed by. one frame during vthe vertical retrace period ifollowin'g each twoscanning fields. The light' beam for scanning. .the .film 140A is providedffromlazflying.spotscanner 142 which is focused on correspondingareasV of four filrnframes simultaneously by the lialfsilvered mirrorsy andv lenses system 144 provided.' The four light-*beams obtained from th'e'system l144 are modulated'byithe film frames on the filmy 140 and convertedY into'el'ectrical. signals by means of the phototubes'146'. `4The output .of th'eseiphototubes 146 areofeddire'ctly 4toy a. movement comparator 65 to `obtain`a signalV if there isardifference iii-output as pre- While we have shown our invention/init several forms, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art 'that it is not so limited, ybut .is su'sceptible:tor-variousl other changes` and modifications'` withoutldepartingffrom 1the spirit4` and scope thereof.

We claim -as our invention: v 1. An image reproduction `device comprisin'gan image screen, said screen comprisedV of a-pluralityof elemental desirable 'to i use `more thanl one long decay Y electron beam of a irst excitation area for scanning said first group of phosphor areas and another means for generating an electron beam'of a second excitation area diierent than said rst area for scanning said second group of phosphor areas.

2. An image reproduction device comprising a screen, said screen comprised of a plurality of elemental phosphor image forming areas, said elemental phosphor areas comprised of a rst group and a second group, said first group having a substantially shorter decay time than said second group of phosphor areas, means for exciting said first group of phosphor areas with a given excitation area, and another means for exciting said second group of phosphor areas with a larger excitation area.

3 A light reproduction device comprising a screen, said screen comprised of a plurality of elemental light producing display areas, said elemental display areas comprised of a first group and a second group of phosphor display areas, said rst group of phosphor areas having a display time substantially longer than said second group, means for exciting said rst group of light producing areas with one type of scan and another means for exciting the other group of said elemental light pro ducing areas with a different type of scan.

References Cited in the tile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,372,903 Lynch Apr. 3, 1945 2,423,830 Fonda July 15, 1947 2,533,381 Levy et al. Dec. 12, 1950 2,633,547 Law Mar. 31, 1953 2,652,449 Graham Sept. 15, 1953 2,699,520 Lubcke Jan. 11, 1955 2,717,918 Anderson Sept. 13, 1955 2,784,342 Van Overbeek Mar. 5, 1,957 2,802,753 Crosby et al. Aug. 13, 1957 2,806,969 Williams et al Sept. 17, 1957 2,811,579 Loughren Oct. 29, 1957 2,831,918 Dome Apr. 22, 1958 FOREIGN PATENTS 228,010 Switzerland July 31, 1943 713,641 Great Britain Aug. 18, 1954 

1. AN IMAGE REPRODUCTION DEVICE COMPRISING AN IMAGE SCREEN, SAID SCREEN COMPRISED OF A PLURALITY OF ELEMENTAL PHOSPHOR IMAGE FORMING AREAS, SAID ELEMENTAL PHOSPHOR AREAS COMPRISED OF A FIRST GROUP AND A SECOND GROUP, SAID SECOND GROUP HAVING A DECAY TIME SUBSTANTIALLY LONGER THAN SAID FIRST GROUP, MEANS FOR GENERATING A FIRST ELECTRON BEAM OF A FIRST EXCITATION AREA FOR SCANNING SAID FIRST GROUP OF PHOSPHOR AREAS AND ANOTHER MEANS FOR GENERATING AN ELECTRON BEAM OF A SECOND EXCITATION AREA DIFFERENT THAN SAID FIRST AREA FOR SCANNING SAID SECOND GROUP OF PHOSPHOR AREAS. 